CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Football is truly an amazing, and emotional, game as we know only too well here at Bristol Rovers.

A little more than a year ago we had played three games in the first week of the season and gained just one point; it really was tough introduction to the world of non league football.

After three games in League Two at the start of this season, we have gained six points thanks to two superb away victories.

In my programme notes for last week’s Capital One Cup tie I said that I had every confidence in Darrell and his management team and players and that it wouldn’t be too long before things settled down and we would start to win games.

After a pulsating 90 minutes of football against Championship side Birmingham City, when we matched them for long periods, we were unfortunate to lose by the odd goal in three.

Nevertheless, the performance gave us something to build on and down at Yeovil on Saturday we totally outplayed our hosts with an outstanding performance.

True, we only won thanks to a superb Ellis Harrison goal two minutes from time but had it not been for an inspired performance by Yeovil goalkeeper Artur Krysiak the winning margin would have been far greater.

The important thing, though, was that we recorded our first win of the season which gave everyone at the club, staff and supporters alike, a massive lift.

On Tuesday we renewed our rivalry with Luton Town at their Kenilworth Road ground. Like us, Luton are hoping to move into a new stadium in the not too distant future and, again like us, they are having to be patient.

It turned out to be a very tough game and we left it even later than we did at Yeovil to claim all three points. On this occasion Stuart Sinclair was the goal scorer and his delight in scoring against the club that released him as a youngster was obvious for all to see.

Once again another outstanding team performance gave us our second away win in a matter of days and our fitness levels were testament to the hard work that all the players are putting in on the training ground day in, day out.

Once again your support has been outstanding and I really do feel that there is a growing affinity between the team and the fan base. Thank you all for turning out in your numbers for the game against Birmingham and for travelling to Yeovil and to Luton and I hope to see another large crowd at the Memorial Stadium as we host Barnet.